Married
by MysticalGoddessOfWords
Summary: Walter has more than one confession to make to Paige. Post Season 3, Episode 3.
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I don't own anything Scorpion

I haven't been able to get this idea out of my head since the season premiere. I had to make some slight adjustments to take episode 3 into account but I think it actually works better with Paige knowing how Walter feels. Right now I'm not sure how long it will be but I think at least 3-4 chapters.

It will have smut, of course it will - it's me after all, and takes place a couple of weeks after the end of episode 2. For reasons beyond my control updates will likely be slow. I appreciate your patience.

I have been unable to read and review these past few months so I am way behind. I hope to catch up soon on what I'm sure are some great stories.

Thanks in advance for reading and enjoy!

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 _ **Married - Chapter 1  
**_

"Walter?"

The genius looked up from his laptop as Ralph stepped onto the roof. The sun in the distance was starting to set; leaving streaks of red and pink across the darkening sky and Walter realized just how late it was. He'd been so lost in his coding that almost the entire day went by without him realizing it.

"Hey buddy," Walter greeted glad it was his young mentee instead of Toby, who did nothing lately but yammer on about not being able to discover the identity of Happy's husband. It was all the behaviorist talked about and as badly as Walter felt for the frustration and hurt his friend was going through, it wasn't Walter's place to reveal the man's identity. It was Happy's.

"Mom said you've been up here all day," Ralph murmured as he stopped beside the chaise Walter was sitting on.

It was true. Walter spent most of his time working alone on the roof these past few weeks. It was the only place he could be completely free of the noise that filled the garage. It was the only place he could be and not hear Paige's voice wafting up from the floor below. Too often it mixed with the interloper's and if he had to hear the two of them chuckling or joking or, god forbid, flirting, one more time, Walter was sure he just might throw himself out the stained glass windows in his loft.

"It's quiet up here."

Ralph gave him an odd look as he sat down on the chair next to the table. The constant din of the traffic below was an ever present background noise and quiet was definitely not what one would describe the roof. Walter hoped Ralph would leave it at that.

"Your loft is quieter," Ralph replied as he leaned back in the chair.

No such luck.

"My loft is filled with your mom," Walter murmured under his breath. But then his eyes whipped to the young genius beside him as he realized he said the words out loud. If Ralph heard him the boy didn't show it.

Every square inch of the garage was filled with Paige. Her presence, her scent, her touch. Both Walter and his space would never be the same and that was what made seeing her with the interloper all that much more painful.

"Was there something you needed, bud?" Walter asked as he closed his laptop and set it aside. It was Friday and he likely wouldn't see Ralph again until Monday morning before school. He missed having the young boy around on the weekends but that had stopped right around the time that Tim and Paige started dating.

Walter gagged internally at the thought. God damn it. He was such a moron. All of this was completely his fault. His inability to understand his emotions, his inability to verbalize his emotions, and his inability to express his emotions were the reasons the woman he loved was in the arms of another man.

"Sly and I are leaving for San Diego and I just wanted to say bye," Ralph replied before Walter could get too sucked into his self flagellation.

"Is it Comic Con weekend already?"

"Yeah." Ralph nodded his head with a grin. "We're staying in a hotel for the weekend. The Super Fun Guy panel isn't until Sunday morning so we won't be back until the afternoon."

Walter smiled at the young genius' enthusiasm.

"Maybe when you get back your mom will bring you over and we can work on the AI project for a while."

"Really?!" Ralph exclaimed excited and sat forward. They hadn't been able to work on their project since before Toby had been kidnapped by Collins.

"Unless your mom has something else planned when you get back."

"Nah," Ralph shook his head. "She and Tim are going to Santa Barbara for the weekend. They won't be home until late Sunday night so I was gonna stay at Sly's anyway."

Walter's entire body stiffened as Ralph's words sunk in. An ache Walter didn't know was possible to feel filled his entire being and it had nothing to do with his fall from Richard's space capsule.

"Santa Barbara?" Walter wondered if his voice sounded as strangled to Ralph as it did to him.

Ralph sat back again with a roll of his eyes "There is some art festival thing my mom wants to go to."

Of course _Timothy_ would take Paige to an art festival. She loved art. Walter still didn't understand the appeal of it but he had learned to appreciate its existence because he knew Paige enjoyed it.

If given a chance Walter would have taken her. He would have endured it just to make her happy. But instead the _interloper_ was taking Paige away and would make her laugh and smile and then probably do god only knows what to her deep in the night.

Walter swallowed back the bile that crept up his throat.

"Walter, are you alright?"

At Ralph's concerned tone Walter realized the fingers of his right hand were clenched into a fist and he slowly relaxed them before forcing a smile.

"I'm fine."

Ralph scoffed in the way only a child on the cusp of becoming a teenager could. "You haven't been fine since my mom and Tim started dating."

"I-I d-don't…" Walter's sputtered but was saved from having to respond by the door behind them opening. The genius knew, instantly, who it was without having to turn around.

"Ralph, sweetie, you and Sly have to get going."

Walter didn't know when the sound of her voice had started affecting him. But he couldn't hear it now without wanting to just close his eyes and lose himself in the sound.

 _"_ _Why won't you just tell me?"_ Toby's voice ruined the moment when it echoed through the door behind Paige.

 _"_ _Give it a rest, Doc. I'm tired of having this argument."_

 _"_ _I'm tired of you keeping this a secret."_

 _"_ _And I'm tired of you hounding me about it."_

Their voices faded as they moved away from the bottom of the stairs.

"God, I'm going to strangle those two if they don't stop this," Paige muttered as the door closed behind her. She walked over to stand behind the chaise Walter was in.

"Bye, Walter," Ralph said as he stood up.

"Have fun with Sly, pal," Walter said and he reached up to pat Ralph's shoulder as the young genius walked toward his mother.

Walter looked down at the computer in his lap to avoid looking at Paige. Every day it hurt more and more to look at her. But he listened intently as she hugged and kissed her son, telling him to be careful and have fun.

Walter heard Ralph grunt as he endured his mother's ministrations and he couldn't help the smirk that curved his lips. Ralph was going to be an interesting teenager.

He heard the door open and then close again behind Ralph. But Paige didn't follow her son and the genius remained still, torn between hoping she would leave and hoping she would stay.

He could hear her soft breathing as she slowly approached and sat down in the chair Ralph vacated.

"The doctors were with you a long time today," she said quietly as she looked at him.

He reluctantly lifted his eyes but he knew Paige liked it when he looked at her when they spoke. She told him once it was polite to look at someone when they're speaking to you.

"They wanted to make sure I have no residual aftereffects of the oxygen deprivation."

"And?" Paige sat back in the chair and crossed her legs. The barely knee length skirt she wore rode up on her thighs and it took all of Walter's effort to not gawk.

"M-my brain is intact," he said as he swallowed.

"Did they clear you for work?" she asked and he could hear the beginnings of frustration in her voice. She hated having to pull information out of him.

"Mentally, yes."

"And physically?" she encouraged him to continue.

Walter placed his laptop on the table and stood up, still moving a little slow. His back and ribs were mostly healed but there was still a residual stiffness and ache in his lumbar that lingered. Then again it could just be the ache from Paige's close proximity.

He grunted and slowly twisted and stretched, his legs shaking slightly as pain radiated down his right one. "Not yet. I've been advised to refrain from any strenuous physical activities for at least another two weeks."

Paige stood and reached for his elbow helping to steady him.

"I know it's driving you crazy because your body hasn't bounced back as quickly as your mind." Walter shuddered softly at the feel of Paige's thumb gently caressing the skin inside his elbow. "But cut yourself a little slack, Walter. You hit that water pretty hard."

Unable to stand her touch any longer he pulled his arm away. "Technically I didn't hit the water. I'd be paralyzed…. or dead if I had."

He could see the distress his words caused on her face but he wondered if it was from his words or his pulling away.

"I'm fine," he said quickly. "Well, I'll see you on Monday."

Walter reached for his computer but Paige slapped her hand down on top of it.

"That's it. Walter, I may not be a genius but I know you're avoiding me."

Walter inhaled slowly. He was tempted to pull his computer forcibly from beneath her hand but he knew she would consider that rude. It was amazing how easily he recognized things like that now. And it was all because of her.

"I'm not avoiding you, Paige."

Paige scoffed exactly like Ralph had done earlier and now Walter knew where he learned it.

"Bullshit!" Paige replied and Walter arched a brow at her uncharacteristic use of an expletive. "You've been avoiding me since Tahoe and I think it's time we finally talk about what you were really doing there."

Walter sighed heavily. He couldn't do this with her. He promised he wouldn't interfere. He promised Cabe. He promised Tim. But most importantly he promised her and he refused to break a promise to her no matter how much it killed him to hold back how he truly felt about her.

He needed an evasion technique.

"Don't you have to leave for Santa Barbara?"

She narrowed her eyes at him clearly used to this. "How do you know I'm going to Santa Barbara?"

Walter shrugged.

"Ralph told you, didn't he?" Paige crossed her arms over her chest and Walter recognized the stance as her "I dare you to lie to me right now" body language.

But he wasn't going to rat out the kid although he doubted Ralph had been told to keep it quiet. So he once again tried evasion.

"You don't want to keep _Timothy_ waiting."

"Tim isn't here," she replied unwilling to be deterred. "He and Cabe are still at Homeland debriefing Katherine. He'll be at least an hour so we have plenty of time to talk about this."

So much for evasion. Walter tried to walk by her but Paige moved in front of him, blocking his way.

"Walter, please," she pleaded softly and he closed his eyes. He could never refuse her when she spoke to him that way. "We can't keep doing this." He felt her move closer. "I miss you."

"I miss you too," the words were barely a whisper from Walter's lips as he swallowed thickly.

"Nothing has been the same since Tahoe," Paige said and Walter opened his eyes to see her frowning.

"I know, alright," Walter snapped as another wave of pain flowed down his right leg. "I know I sabotaged your weekend with Tim. I know I acted juvenile. I've apologized for my behavior. What else do you want from me?"

Paige stepped closer and placed her hand on his forearm. "I want-," she stopped mid sentence and looked away from a moment. When she looked back at him he could see resolve in her eyes. "I want my friend back."

Never in his life had Walter despised the word "friend" as much as he did at that moment. He pulled his arm away and stepped back needing distance from her.

"Paige, I don't-"

"Why did you really come to Tahoe, Walter?" Paige interrupted him softly as she stepped closer again refusing to let him back away. "And don't tell me it was because you wanted to hear jazz"

Paige looked almost as surprised as he felt that she asked him. Particularly because she made it crystal clear she had no intention of hearing him out after she discovered what he'd done.

"It wasn't important," Walter replied quickly as he looked away from her.

"You drove seven hours, Walter."

Paige slid her hand down his forearm and wrapped her slender fingers around his wrist. She moved even closer so there was barely any space between them. Walter found it hard to think with her this close.

"Walter," she said his name in the way that made him tremble and he swallowed. She was standing so close her scent surrounded him and he wanted to close his eyes and just breathe her in.

Why was she torturing him like this?

"Walter," she said his name again.

It was barely a breath of a sound and before he could talk himself out of it, before he could let himself think about what a colossal mistake it would be, Walter reached for Paige's hips and tugged her to him while simultaneously lowering his lips to hers.

It was instantaneous. As soon as his lips sealed over hers, Paige pressed her body against his, sliding her hands up over his shoulders and into his hair. Paige's fingers crawled through the soft strands as his fingers flexed against the warm flesh of her waist between the waistband of her skirt and the navy blue silk tank top she wore.

Pain momentarily shot through his entire body as hers collided with his but it was almost immediately replaced with a pleasurable tingling sensation that enveloped him.

Paige's head fell back and her mouth opened. Walter didn't hesitate to accept the silent invitation as he slid his tongue into her mouth, tangling with hers as a soft whimper escaped the back of her throat. They were just as soft as he remembered. But he could swear she tasted even sweeter than his eidetic memory registered.

The kiss deepened as he held her trapped against his body. She felt glorious as he always knew she would. Unlike their first kiss which was frantic and messy, where he barely dared touch her, this kiss was slow and deep. There was a longing in it and when Paige wriggled gently against him he was unable to hold back the groan that escaped.

He never wanted to let her go. He never wanted to stop kissing her. For a man who previously found very little pleasure in the act of kissing, Walter realized he wanted nothing more than her lips on his for the rest of his life.

It was that realization that had him pulling back from her as much as he loathed doing so.

"Paige, w-wait," Walter stuttered as he struggled to breath evenly.

Paige nibbled gently on his chin as Happy and Toby's voices wafted up from the alley below.

 _"_ _Toby I swear to god if you don't stop hounding me I'm going to burn every single one of your hats."_

 _"_ _Why won't you tell me? How long are you going to make me-?"_

The sound of Happy's motorcycle starting up drowned out their voices and Walter's eyes crossed as Paige dipped her tongue into the dimple in his chin.

"Wait," he said again as he pulled his head back. "I-I have t-to tell you something."

"I know what you want to tell me," Paige said as she pressed her nose against his cheek. Her warm breath tickled his skin as she panted softly.

Her fingers gently massaged the back of his head and he lost his train of thought for a moment but then his mind cleared when her words sunk in.

"No I don't think you do but I need you to know this."

"Walter, I do," she smiled against his cheek. "You already told me."

He kept his arms around her but pulled his head back when she moved to press her lips against his again.

"What?" he looked at her confused.

She looked hesitant for a moment then her eyes filled with resolve.

"When you were in the capsule. You told me when you thought I was in the capsule with you."

Walter dropped his hands from her waist and stepped back.

"Wait," Walter blinked his eyes as flashes of a distant conversation that had been rolling around in his head for weeks, but that he thought was a hallucination, rushed through his mind. "What did I tell you?"

Paige reached up and caressed his cheek. "That you love me."

Walter frowned and shook his head. "No that's not it."

"I don't understand." Now Paige looked confused. "Are you saying you don't love me?"

"No." Walter replied but when he saw the hurt flash in her eyes he instantly realized the mistake he made. He reached for her hand so she wouldn't back away. "I mean yes. That didn't come out right," he grunted in frustration before his voice softened. "Yes I do. I do love you, Paige. I do."

"Then I don't understand what you're trying to tell me." Paige slid her fingers between his and squeezed gently. "What else do I need to know?"

Walter exhaled a deep breath.

"I'm Happy's husband."

To be continued…..

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Thanks again for reading and reviewing. Oh and for the record - this isn't going to be a Tim bashing story. I like Tim for the most part and I can't blame him for falling for Paige. But he still has to go. I wish the show could find a way to keep him on but not put him between Paige and Walter just like I wish the writers would have done that with Linda.


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: Why don't I own Scorpion? Beats the hell out of me… but I don't so no infringement is intended.

Thanks for the truly wonderful response to the first chapter of this story. It makes my heart happy that you're enjoying it. And thanks for your patience with this chapter as I got caught up in _Because You Want To_. I started this story before episode 3 so this is clearly an AU story now.

Thanks, as always, for reading. Not much else to say at this point other than enjoy!

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 **Married – Chapter 2**

Paige blinked her eyes several times as her brain tried to process the previous three words out of Walter's mouth.

"I'm sorry, could you repeat that please?"

Anxiety was rolling off Walter in waves and she knew he was waiting for her to either slap him or stomp off or both. She released his fingers and stepped back and she saw Walter's eyes widen in alarm.

"I'm Happy's husband," he repeated quickly before adding. "But it's not what you think."

What did she think? Paige wasn't sure at the moment. All she knew was less than five minutes earlier she'd been in his arms and he'd been kissing her like his life depended on it.

He'd told her he loved her and he wasn't suffering from hyopoxia.

And all she'd wanted to do was melt into him and revel in being exactly where she wanted to be for over a year.

Oh God! Panic and guilt surged through her. What the hell had she just done?

She was dating Tim and, yet, she was just in Walter's arms kissing him. Admittedly she was the one who stepped closer, got so close that even before they kissed their breath intermingled. And she'd be lying if she said she hadn't wanted him to kiss her. But what kind of woman dates one man and kisses another?

As Paige looked into Walter's panicked eyes, she knew exactly what kind of woman would do that.

One that was head over heels in love with the man in front of her.

Even if it wasn't right – it just was a fact. And thanks to Walter facts were what defined most of her life now.

"Paige, please, you have to let me explain," Walter flexed his fingers with the overwhelming desire to touch her again. "There is a perfectly logical explanation and if you'll just hear me out you'll understand why we-"

"Walter," Paige interrupted his rambling as she reached out and touched his arm again. Walter always calmed more quickly and easily when she touched him. Despite his aversion to touch he'd never shied away from hers. He stiffened but then almost instantly relaxed as he expelled a long breath.

And as shocked as she was at his words, they were ones she _never_ expected to hear out of Walter O'Brien's mouth, Paige had no doubt there was a logical explanation. But that didn't stop the twisting pain in her chest as his words sunk in. He was married to Happy and, oh God, she not only just cheated on Tim but he cheated on Happy.

Even if the marriage wasn't a real marriage, which Paige didn't need to be a genius or have Walter tell her to know; their marriage was clearly one of convenience, but there was still something sacred about the institution of marriage, at least in Paige's opinion.

But in order to hear how the whole thing happened, Paige needed something stiff to drink so she slid her hand down to Walter's again and tugged him forward.

"Uh, Paige," Walter said apprehensively but allowed her to drag him across the roof. "What are you doing?"

"We're getting off this roof and going down to the loft to have his conversation."

"You're not going to push me off are you?" he asked as his eyes shot to the edge of the wall surrounding the roof.

Despite the shock still coursing through her system Paige's lips curved up on the right because she could hear the genuine concern in his tone.

"It depends on what you tell me so we're going inside so I'm not tempted," she replied, only half joking, as she opened the door and pulled Walter through it behind her.

He grunted and she felt his fingers tighten around hers as they descended the stairs almost as if he were afraid she might bolt from his grasp and disappear.

Paige walked straight to the kitchen and opened the farthest cabinet to the left. She moved a package of paper towels out of the way and grabbed the tall bottle behind it.

Walter's brow furrowed in confusion. "Why is there a bottle of red wine hidden in my cabinet?"

"Because I suspected I might need it someday." Paige pulled out the drawer, also to the far left, and reached all the way to the back and pulled out a corkscrew.

"Alcohol kills brain cells." Walter frowned as he watched her, again, wondering how she'd snuck not only wine but a corkscrew into his kitchen without him knowing.

"I don't care." Paige adeptly uncorked the bottle, so quickly it was obvious she did it often. She opened the cabinet to the right of the sink, moving several glass tumblers out of the way before she grabbed a glass off the shelf and off of Walter's look she added. "Yes, I snuck wine glasses into your cabinets too."

"Should I be worried you feel you need alcohol to have a conversation with me?" he asked as he shoved his hands into his pockets.

"This isn't just any conversation," Paige replied as she took the bottle and glass over to the sofa where she sat down. She filled the glass almost to the brim and then took a gulp so large Walter worried she might choke.

He watched her silently and waited for her to take a second gulp before she sat back, crossed her legs again, and looked up at him expectantly.

"Now can you please explain to me how you ended up married to Happy?"

Walter started to pace in front of the sofa reaching up to tug on the short strands of his hair. His brain quickly registered that it wasn't nearly as pleasurable as Paige's fingers felt a few minutes earlier. Finally he stopped on the other side of the coffee table and looked down at her.

"It was five years ago. I was here on a work visa, working for a bank but when I decided to leave and start Scorpion, it was no longer valid. Self-employed aliens can't sponsor themselves." Walter pursed his lips before he sat down on the chair opposite Paige and looked down at his hands. "Happy was the first one of the team I met. I wouldn't say we were exactly friends, yet, but we connected. We knew we wanted to do amazing things together. I had just met Sly and decided the bank job wasn't for me. He needed someone and I couldn't just leave him there in that motel room."

Walter looked up and saw she was watching him, her eyes always so expressive, and he saw a mixture of understanding and something resembling sadness. And it made his chest hurt, as illogical as that was, but he cleared his throat and continued.

"I made a split second decision to quit my job and start my own company. It seemed like the most logical decision…. until I received the letter from immigration that my visa was being revoked. The marriage was Happy's idea and, at first, I said no. But she convinced me it was the only logical solution."

Paige took another sip of her wine as she waited for him to continue, but he didn't. He just looked at her with trepidation.

"Why didn't you tell anyone? None of us would have judged you, Walter."

He shrugged as he reached up and scratched the back of his neck, a nervous habit he'd had since childhood. He couldn't read her at the moment and it was disconcerting. She was calmer than he expected and he wasn't sure how to handle it.

"We made a pact to keep it a secret but I can't lie to you about this," he said honestly. "I wanted to tell you so many times but I couldn't go back on my word."  
Paige nodded her head thoughtfully. When Walter made a promise he kept it.

"Neither one of us thought it would become an issue before we could have it dissolved. I didn't believe in love. So falling in love with anyone was an impossibility in my mind. But then I met you and you changed absolutely everything."

He stopped speaking for a moment and got that soft look in his eyes that she had seen so often lately. He inhaled before he spoke again.

"I have fallen in love with you and Happy fell in love with Toby and of course he'd go screw it all up by rushing to propose to her." Walter's face changed to a scowl as he shook his head.

Paige wondered if Walter knew how selfish his statement sounded but she doubted it. She took another sip of wine and almost choked when suddenly a light bulb went on.

"This is why you didn't want me to do your taxes."

Walter's brow furrowed wondering where in the world that thought came from. Of course he often didn't understand Paige's thought process because it was oftentimes not logical.

At the confused look on his face, Paige continued. "You had no problem with me filing Scorpion's taxes and Sly and Toby had me do theirs because they had no clue how to do it. But you and Happy refused my offer to do yours. You didn't want me to know you and Happy filed together."

"We've had to file joint returns for the past few years," he replied but the confusion didn't leave his eyes. "But I don't understand where your thought process is going Paige."

She shrugged gently and sighed. "I'm just wondering how many other signs I missed."

Paige leaned forward and poured more wine into her glass and Walter pursed his lips. She drank almost a third of the bottle in just a few minutes, and he was starting to wonder just how much wine she typically drank. He wondered if it was Tim's influence but he, wisely, kept his question to himself, instead, electing to reply to her previous statement.

"You didn't miss anything."

"Walter, you're married to Happy!" she snapped more harshly than she intended but that knowledge, again, seemed to knock the wind out of her. But it was less jarring that the first time it registered. She set her wine glass on the table. "I missed your wedding if nothing else," she added with a sigh.

Walter could see how weary she was and part of him wished he'd never said a word. "We didn't have a wedding; just a ceremony at city hall. Besides, we got married before we met you."

"How long?"

Paige reached up and slid her fingers through her hair. The scent of her wafted toward Walter and he lost his train of thought for a moment.

"Huh?" she said as he exhaled slowly.

"How long?" she asked again and the way her lips curved just slightly Walter knew she knew the affect she was having on him.

"Almost 5 years." But he'd already told her that.

"No," she shook her head. "I mean how much longer do you have to stay married?"

Before Walter could answer, Ferret Bueller came sliding into the room, along the concrete floor, before he scurried up the back of the sofa, chattering excitedly.

"Oh, my God!" Paige jumped and leaned forward as he climbed over her shoulder and onto her lap before he burrowed into her.

Walter stood up and went to reach for the animal but Paige held up her hand.

"It's okay," she said as she lifted him up so she could see his face. "What the heck are you doing you crazy animal?"

"He's never done that before," Walter said as he frowned.

Paige lowered him to her lap and started scratching behind his ears. "He does it once in a while when I've been away from the garage for a few days. But I just fed him a few hours ago."

"Was he in his cage? How did he get out?"

"When I went up to the roof to get Ralph he was asleep in his bed on the corner of my desk."

"Hmmm," Walter hummed as he eyed Paige stroking the ferret gently. Was it normal to be jealous of a ferret?

"Anyway where were we?" she asked as she leaned back but Walter remained standing.

"You asked how much longer Happy and I have to stay married." He shoved his hands in his pockets as he continued. "Seven months. We've met every deadline, passed every interview with the case worker and my Form N-400 is already submitted. Barring any complications my naturalization ceremony is scheduled for January 18th. But Toby just had to ask her now. He's so damn impatient."

"How have you never had a surprise visit from immigration with any of us around? Aren't those unscheduled?"

"I hacked the case worker's computer and phone and I monitor her calendar." Walter had the grace to look at least a little sheepish even though Paige knew he really didn't feel bad about it at all. "I always make sure you are all out on other assignments or I give you the time off so you're all out of here."

Paige arched her brow. "And here I thought you were being considerate by give me time with Ralph considering how busy we all are."

Walter frowned at her implication. He made it a priority to allow Paige adequate time with her son. "I don't just give you time off to be with Ralph when she's coming."

Paige leaned forward, grabbed her glass from the table and took another sip of her wine. She was starting to feel it now and it was probably a good idea to slow down but the overload of information coming at her was too much. Two of her friends were married to each other but one was in love with her and the other was in love with Toby and up until twenty minutes again no once except Walter and Happy knew it. She wondered if Cabe knew about it because he had kept an eye on Walter over the years.

"Uh, Paige, don't you think you should slow down a little bit? You have a long drive to Santa Barbara."

Paige blanched but put her glass on the table again. She'd momentarily forgotten about Tim.

"I'm not driving but I should stop or I'll end up with a headache."

For once Walter didn't think that was so bad. If she had a headache, maybe she wouldn't go. Or if she did, maybe she wouldn't want to…..

Nope! Walter stopped that train of thought and turned to walk toward the kitchen to get himself a glass of water. But he stopped abruptly and turned back to her.

"Can I ask you a question?"

She looked up at him with a wry smile. "There was a time you would have told me that asking someone if you could ask a question was illogical and a waste of time."

"Uh, yeah," he muttered. He could be a real jerk sometimes. Why had he never seen that before? In truth, he did, but before her he didn't care.

He bit his bottom lip anxiously. He'd wanted to ask her this question since she said something about it on the roof, but he'd gotten distracted with her so close and then she was in his arms and nothing else mattered but kissing her.

"Will you explain what you meant when you said I told you I love you in the capsule?"

"Oh," Paige released a short breath reminded that she had accidentally spilled the beans when she thought he was about to tell her he loved her. It was her own fault, really, because she never should have confronted him but it just came out in her frustration when he tried to run from her. She set Ferret Bueller aside and cleared her throat as she stood. The ferret chattered in protest before walking in a circle and laying down in the spot she'd been sitting. "Um, well…"

Walter licked his lips and swallowed. "I was hallucinating from the hypoxia and I know I told you, or imaginary you, that I loved you but how did you know?"

She hesitated before answering and his frown deepened. "Because I was talking to you."

"I don't understand."

She tilted her head as she asked curiously. "What do you remember about being up there Walter?"

He didn't want to tell her.

"I, uh, just have flashes of what happened."

It was the truth, he still only had brief flashes and he could tell his memory was trying to come back, but parts of it remained just out of reach. He wanted to know but at the same time he didn't.

"It makes me wonder what was real and what was all in my head."

Paige crossed her arms suddenly feeling like she needed protection from the rest of this conversation.

"You thought I was up there with you."

"Yes." He nodded. That wasn't a secret. Sly let it slip a couple of weeks back that Walter thought Paige was with him but, when Walter tried to ask him about it, the mathematician went flying out of the garage like his ass was on fire. By the time he returned on Monday morning, Walter decided he'd rather not know.

Paige inhaled before continuing. "And when we needed you to pull the blue lever to open the cargo hold, Toby insisted I was the only one who could convince you."

"How much of it was real Paige?" he asked quietly.

"I don't know," she said hesitantly. "You tell me."

Walter crossed his arms and it was clear to both of them this was also protective rather than defensive. "I remember telling you I was confused because you picked Tim and then I told you how much that hurt because I love you."

It was surprising how freely those three words flowed off his tongue. Paige held his gaze, her ability to speak nonexistent, but she nodded her head slowly to let him know that part was real.

"And then you told me you loved me, too, and that if I just pulled the lever we could be together forever."

He could tell from the panicked look in her eyes she had said the words but he still had to ask.

"Did you say that to me or did I imagine it.

If she was a dishonest person Paige could have told him he imagined it. In light of the condition he was in there was no way he could ever know, one hundred percent, what the truth was. But Paige wasn't a dishonest person. And she and Walter didn't deliberately lie to each other.

Well mostly.

And the truth of it was she did love him. When she said the words back, still half in shock from his confession, she knew they were true. That's why they were so hard to get past her lips.

"Paige?" he asked as his eyes raked over her face desperately looking for a truth he already knew.

"You didn't imagine it."

"Why would you say that to me?" he asked over the lump in his throat.

"I would have said anything to you to get you to pull that lever and save your own life," she answered honestly as she stepped closer to him.

So it was possible for the human heart to feel pain.

"But why did you say that? You could have simply used what you knew of my feelings for you and said if I really loved you I would pull the lever and come back to you." Walter backed up when she lifted her hand to touch him. "I would have done it. There is _nothing_ I won't do for you. How can you not know that by now?"

Paige closed her fingers and lowered her hand as anger quickly replaced the hurt his retreat caused.

"Except take a risk and be with me."

Walter threw his hands in the air angrily. "I drove seven hours to Tahoe to tell you I loved you and wanted to be with you."

"After you pushed me into Tim's arms," she retorted even though she knew this time she was in the wrong. She shouldn't have kept this from him but the depths of her feelings for him frightened her. She'd never felt this way about another man, not even Drew, and he was once the man she thought she'd be with forever. Until he broke her heart and abandoned her and her son.

But this wasn't about her. This was about the hurt she could see in Walter's eyes. The betrayal he felt because he believed she lied to him at a moment he was the most vulnerable he'd ever been with, probably, anyone.

"What else was I supposed to do?" Walter barked and then he deflated in front of her. He looked down at the floor. "I don't know how to give you what you need. This is the one area I am entirely deficient." He looked up at her and his gaze looked almost haunted. "And I know you aren't a vindictive person, Paige, and you wouldn't deliberately say anything to hurt me but telling me you love me when it's not true is a cruelty I never would have expected from you."

She shook her head. "I didn't lie to you, Walter. Yes, I would have said anything to get you to save yourself," she reiterated again. "And if that makes me a bad person, I'm sorry. But I needed you to come home alive. And I wasn't lying when I said I love you."

"Then why are you with Tim?" he asked his voice reflecting his desperation to know.

He deserved the whole truth so she decided to take the risk and tell him.

"Because he can't hurt me," she said simply. "You have the power to destroy me, Walter." Even though he looked alarmed at her words he remained silent as she continued. "I vowed when Drew left me that I'd never give another man that power. But when I love someone my heart and my head don't always work in conjunction for my best interest. You've broken my heart so many times and when you said you loved me, something I had stopped believing would ever be possible, I panicked and retreated. You don't have a monopoly on burying your head in the sand when you can't deal with something."

She could tell he was processing her words so she waited quietly giving him the time she knew he needed. His eyes whipped back and forth between her and Ferret Bueller and the window to her right. Slowly the haunted look in his eyes faded and was replaced with understanding and acceptance. He believed her and the relief Paige felt was palpable.

"So you don't feel anything for him?"

She sighed expecting this question.

"I didn't say that Walter."

"Then you do have feelings for him even though you… you lo-love me?"

She could tell he was trying to comprehend how it was possible to have feelings for more than one person but that was just because of his limited experience and she needed to navigate this carefully.

"I like Tim," she replied as she dared to take a step toward him again. He didn't retreat this time. "He's a good man. He's nice to me and he is nice to my son."

"He's the logical choice for you."

Her eyes softened because the response was just so _him_ and it was one of the reasons she loved him. Logic was what he understood and even if it hurt him he could accept logic.

"I have enough logic in my life. I don't want logic, Walter."

Was she saying she didn't want him then either since everything about Walter revolved around logic? Walter swallowed and wondered what the chances were the squeezing sensation in his chest was a heart attack.

"I want love, Walter." His eyes widened and then they took on that soft look again, the one that had vanished briefly when he thought she had lied to him. But it was back now and it gave her the courage to continue. "I want a man who loves me beyond logic and reason and who can't fathom living without me. I want a man who I can give my heart and soul to and trust that he won't wake up one day and decide that there is something more important than me and my son."

Walter's brows furrowed and she wondered if he felt she wanted too much from him, more than he'd ever be capable of giving her, but his next words proved how wrong she was.

"Even after all this time you still don't fully understand the genius brain. Facts. That's all we know, Paige. That's all we can process. And I never believed the heart was anything more than a circulatory muscle. Until you walked into my life. And that's a fact. I don't know how to love you the way you deserve but if you'd let me I would endeavor to excel at it. I'd make you my whole world. You already are."

"Walter," Paige started, and it sounded like the beginning of a sob, but he just shook his head.

"No, Paige. You are," Walter insisted with such conviction she had to believe him. "That is an _irrefutable_ fact." He paused and sighed. "But you also have the ability to destroy me. If a relationship between us wasn't successful, you could go on and find someone to make you happy. I won't. _You are it for me_. You are my one chance for happiness and the thought of failing you and losing you because of my…. deficiencies is… crippling."

"Pushing me away doesn't solve that, Walter," she reasoned. "It just hurts me and makes _me_ feel that _you_ feel I'm not worth the risk; especially when you put the good of everything else, including Scorpion, ahead of me."

"I don't want to hurt you. I never want to hurt you but don't you see that's what I'm trying to tell you. I don't know how to do this." Walter tugged angrily at his hair as he started to pace. "I always use Scorpion as an excuse. Yes, this company and what we do are important. And for a long time I was singularly focused on finding a way to atone for my part in the events in Bagdad. But I've made peace with what happened in my past and I know I've saved more people than were killed from my software. I don't do this to atone for anything anymore. I do this for you. And Ralph. I do this to make the world safer for you and Ralph."

He stopped pacing and looked at her again. "But I'd give it all up for you. All of it."

Paige gasped, stunned, because she knew he was speaking the absolute truth. She opened her mouth to respond but no words would come.

"But I don't know how to give you what you need emotionally. All I know is I love you. All I know is with you in my life the world is an infinitely better place. All I know is that I don't know how to be what you need and that terrifies me. I never felt fear before you came into my life."

Paige finally found her voice. "Walter, I know who you are. And I know what you're capable of giving and what you're not, at least at this point and time. I fell in love with you just as you are and I don't expect you to be anyone _except_ who you are."

His eyes were wide with hope and Paige had never loved him more.

"Do you frustrate me sometimes?" she continued. "Yes. Do you make me angry sometimes? Yes. Do you hurt me sometimes? Yes."

She could see the distress her words were causing him but this had to be said.

"But that makes you human and more normal that you think. You're not perfect, Walter, and I don't expect or need you to be. I just need you to love me."

"I do," he breathed the words so simply and honestly and for the second time in as many minutes there was no doubt in Paige's mind they were the truth.

"And do you want to know what else you do for me? You make me feel safe, even when we're so often in mortal danger. I know without a doubt that you will give your life to protect me. Just like I will for you."

He nodded imperceptibly mesmerized by her and her words. She stepped closer to him unable to stop now that she'd started.

"You accepted my son into your life, invited him actually, without hesitation. You protect him and I know you'd give your life for him just as quickly, if not more so, than for me. But I need you to be willing to take a risk. You do it all the time. Why not for me?"

"All those risks are calculable."

"Not all of them," she argued. "Sometimes you go blindly into the fray even when the risks aren't quantifiable."

Walter flexed his fingers at his sides because he wanted to touch her but he wasn't sure exactly what would happen if he did and he didn't want to scare her.

"Love isn't quantifiable but what I feel for you eclipses anything I have ever felt. I love you, Paige, and I'll risk everything for you. You're my whole world and I'm just a moon that orbits around you."

As the words passed his lips Walter felt like he'd said them before but he was instantly struck by just how true they were.

She was his whole world.

Paige didn't consciously make the decision to hurl herself at Walter. It just happened. His words combined with the look in his eyes made it impossible to breathe. Walter, the world's least eloquent man when it came to anything remotely romantic had just taken her breath away with his confession and declaration of love. Even if the end of it was a little cheesy.

Walter stumbled when her body slammed into his but he instantly clutched her close as a groan escaped his lips. Paige fused her lips with his and swallowed the low sound as her fingers slid through and gently tugged on the short strands of his hair. The length of her soft body pressed against him and Walter felt his body tingling from head to toe.

She tasted like the wine she'd been drinking and although he despised the taste of alcohol, there was something appealing about the taste on her lips.

Paige whimpered softly and the kiss softened, their lips parting briefly, as oxygen was inhaled, before meeting again. This kiss was gentle and Walter sank into her as Paige melted against him. Walter caressed his tongue against hers, tasting her, as he slid his hand down her back and over her ass and jerked her hips closer to him, needing her closer. She gasped into his mouth and sunk her nails into his scalp.

Walter turned them and started guiding her backwards toward the counter, not sure exactly what he was planning to do, but all he knew was he wanted her closer, still, and pressed up against the nearest hard surface.

"Yo O'Brien, we have to ta-" Happy's voice trailed off as she walked into the loft.

Paige tore her lips away and hurled her body away from Walter, he back slamming into the counter, as he stumbled backward, his legs hitting the arm of the sofa. He lost his balance and tumbled back onto the cushion, just missing Ferret Bueller by inches, and then crashed unceremoniously to the floor.

"Oomph," he grunted as the ferret screeched angrily before moving to the other side of the couch.

"Well, well, well…." Happy said as her lips curved into a smirk that resembled Toby's. "What do we have here?"

Paige lifted her fingers to her lips and swallowed as she gaped, wide-eyed, at her friend who she now knew was Walter's wife.

Walter grunted again as he stood up – his L5 protesting. That was going to set his recovery back a bit.

"What are you doing here?" he scowled at the mechanic, frustrated and disappointed because she interrupted his kiss with Paige.

Happy looked back and forth between them before her eyes slid over to the half empty wine bottle on the table.

"You mean other than catching the two of you in a very compromising position?"

Walter didn't think she should sound so giddy. "Happy, this isn't a good time."

"Clearly," she drawled, again sounding like Toby, and Walter wondered when she started channeling her boyfriend. "But we need to talk," she said as she looked at him pointedly before her eyes slid briefly to Paige.

"Paige knows."

Happy didn't have to ask what he meant and she glared at him and barked angrily. "Jesus, O'Brien, we made a pact."

"I won't lie to her anymore."

"Isn't your name O'Brien too?" Paige asked when she could think coherently again.

"It's the twenty first century, Dineen! Women keep their names all the time." Happy turned her glare back on Walter. "How am I supposed to keep this from Toby now?"

"Happy, you should tell him." Paige walked over the table and picked up her wine glass and the wine bottle, needing to do something to calm her shaking hands.

"Hell no! The Doc will lose his mind."

"The statistical likelihood of Toby understanding this is very low," Walter muttered in support of Happy's statement.

"What are you doing with that?" Happy asked as Paige moved around her and headed toward the kitchen.

"I'm going to put it away."

Happy reached her hand out and plucked the bottle and glass from Paige's hands. "Where did it come from?"

"Paige apparently has alcohol stashed all over the garage."

"Walter, I had one bottle in your cupboard."

Happy walked to the sofa and sat down next to Ferret Bueller. She wiped the rim of the glass with her shirt before pouring more wine into it.

"Yeah, quit being a drama queen, O'Brien. It's not like you can blame her, really. Your quirks could easily drive someone to drink."

"Happy, be nice," Paige said at the same time Walter muttered.

"Tell me how you really feel. And since when do you drink alcohol."

Happy shrugged. "I always have. I grew up in foster homes. It was a rite of passage. I just never do it around you since you're such a tight ass about it."

A chuckled escaped Paige's lips and Walter frowned as he looked at her.

"Sorry," she said sheepishly and his annoyance instantly faded as he was overcome with the desire to kiss her again.

He just needed to get rid of his wife first.

"Happy, Paige is right. We need to tell Toby," Walter said in what he was sure to be a catalyst of causing her to storm out.

"Absolutely not. He will melt down." Happy sat back and reached over to pet Ferret Bueller. He stretched a little but didn't open his eyes.

"I think he'll understand the necessity behind it once he has a chance to calm down," Paige reasoned in the calm voice she'd come to learn worked well with geniuses.

"And will that be before or after he decapitates Walter? He knows how to do that, you know. And don't 'calm voice' me. I know what you're doing."

"Now who's being a drama queen?" Walter said as he put his hand on the back of the chair. His L5 was aching since he fell off the couch and now he wasn't sure if he sat down he'd be able to get back up again.

"We only have seven months left? Why can't we just let it be?" Happy didn't whine, as a rule, but her tone reminded Paige of Ralph when he didn't want to do something. "I can hold him off that long and then he'll be so glad I'm divorced and can marry him that it won't matter anymore."

"Are we talking about the same person?" Walter asked skeptically. "Toby has been 'hunting Happy's husband' for weeks now. He's not going to just give up."

"I don't know how the two of you thought you could pull this off?" Paige scoffed as she shook her head. It was clear now that Walter wasn't kissing her but she still felt a tingling in her lips that had her licking them and she could have sworn she could still taste him. She heard the low growl coming from Walter, almost instantly, and she looked over at him. The way he was looking at her made her hiccup softly.

"Hey, we were doing fine until Toby had to jump the gun," Happy said reiterating Walter's earlier sentiment, clearly, either not noticing what was happening between the liaison and the genius or deliberately ignoring it.

Paige cleared her throat and forced herself to look away from Walter. "You wouldn't have been able to keep this a secret forever. And you still can't. If you and Toby get married you'll have to list all prior marriages on the marriage application. How do you expect to keep that from him?"

"Let me worry about it." Happy lifted her work boot clad feet onto the coffee table.

"Happy, shoes please," Paige motioned to her feet but the mechanic ignored her and took another sip of wine.

"How do you know that?" Walter asked.

"Know what?" Paige as she looked over at him.

"About the prior marriage section of the marriage license application."

Paige shrugged as she leaned against the counter.

"Because Drew and I were going to get married."

Walter schooled his features not wanting her to know how shocked he was about her revelation. He never knew she and Drew had been at the point of discussing, never mind planning, marriage. It wasn't as shocking as his revelation about _being_ married to Happy but, still, how did he not know this?

"You dodged a bullet there, didn't you, Dineen?" Happy said as she swirled the wine around her glass.

Paige narrowed her eyes at the mechanic. "Anyway, we went as far as getting the application for the license and we were supposed to get married when he joined us in LA but….. Well, he never came."

Walter once again felt a surge of loathing for Ralph's father. What kind of moron would abandon this incredible woman and her just as incredible child?

"But there was a section on the license application for previous marriages. Didn't the two of you see that when you filled out yours?"

"Nah," Happy waved her hand dismissively. "Neither of us was paying attention."

"Of course not." Paige said dryly.

"You and Drew were going to get married?"

"How do you not know that?" Happy asked curiously. "Didn't you hack her records?"

Paige looked at him and arched her brow as she waited for him to answer.

"Um, n-no, I didn't." He admitted as he scratched the back of his neck again.

"Why the hell not?" Happy looked incredulous. "You do it to everyone."

"I, uh, didn't feel the need to."

"Toby must have then," she insisted and Paige kept watching Walter. "Or Sly. One of you had to check her background before you hired her."

Walter shook his head. "No, I wouldn't let them."

"Why not?" Paige asked curiously. She knew this team and they hacked _everyone's_ records. She just expected they had done it to her although no one ever said a word.

"Uh, because I saw something in you. I trusted you right away."

"You never trust anyone right away," Happy said as she stopped short of taking another sip of wine.

Walter ignored her as he looked at Paige. "I saw the kind of mother you were, to a gifted child you didn't understand, and I knew all I needed to know."

Paige wanted to hurl herself at him again but she held back and pressed her lips together. She wanted to sob because there were no words to tell him how much his words meant to her.

"Oh man," Happy said, clucking her tongue, noticing the interaction between the couple this time. "Turn off those waterworks, Dineen. No one needs that right now. We need to figure out how I can keep Toby in the dark about me and Walt."

 _"_ _Paige,"_ Tim's voice came from the first floor of the garage. _"Where are you?"_

"Oh my god, Tim," Paige gasped as her eyes whipped toward the door. She'd completely forgotten about him.

Walter felt his stomach drop.

"Are you still going away with him?" he asked abruptly and Paige could see the panic fill his eyes.

She walked over to him and reached up to caress his cheek. "Walter, I'm not going anywhere."

The genius expelled a harsh breath of relief and leaned into her palm as he closed his eyes.

"Gross. Can the two of you stop that please," Happy said as she shuddered.

 _"_ _Paige,"_ Tim called again and his voice was closer. _"Are you up in the loft?"_

"Coming," she called before turning back to Walter. "I have to talk to him. I owe him an explanation."

Walter pursed his lips even as she kissed the corner of his mouth. His eyes fluttered and his face relaxed for a second.

"Gross," Happy muttered again but Walter ignored her as he felt Paige move away. He opened his eyes again to watch her walk away and both his hands and his jaw clenched reflexively.

"Easy there tiger," Happy murmured. "She said she'll be back."

"Maybe I should go with her," Walter said as he continued to frown. "Who knows how he'll react when she tells him she's not going with him."

"First of all, don't be a moron. Tim won't do anything to her. He's a good guy and won't flip out on her. But he's gonna be bummed though, I bet, because he was probably taking her away for a long overdue booty call."

"I'm sorry a what?" Walter's face filled with confusion. "What would the kind of shoes Paige was wearing have anything to do with his plans? And she wasn't even wearing boots. She was wearing sandals today."

He could hear Paige and Tim's voices, for once hushed, so he couldn't make out what they were saying.

Happy smacked herself on the forehead. "Jesus, Walt. Are you really still that clueless?"

"I don't understand what you mean." Walter heard Paige's sandals as she walked across the floor of the garage and then the back door open and close. Why were she and Tim going outside to talk?

"Sex, O'Brien! Sex!" Happy said it like it was the most obvious thing in the world. "He was taking her away for the weekend to have sex."

Walter choked as bile flowed up his esophagus.

"I'm going down there." He started toward the door that led to the stairs.

"Stop!" Happy commanded and Walter instantly complied. She very rarely used a tone like that so it surprised him. He turned to find her pointing at him. "You need to chill the fuck out, O'Brien. Don't get into the middle of that shit. Let Paige handle him."

"But if he had inappropriate expectations of her, she should know-"

"I don't know how inappropriate they were," Happy scoffed. "I'm pretty sure she was on board with that if the skimpy little negligee I saw in her overnight bag is any indication."

"What?" This time the bile made it all the way to his mouth and he coughed as he swallowed it back down.

"She's dumping him now so what does it matter? You need to stay out of it. Besides we have more important things to talk about like what the hell were you thinking telling her the truth? There is no way Toby won't find out now."

"Paige won't tell him if we ask her not to," Walter answered absently as he strained to try to hear voices below his windows, which mercifully were open. But he couldn't hear anything and now all he could think about was Paige in a skimpy negligee. When did he become such a pervert?

"But she'll hound us both until we cave and do it ourselves. She has an uncanny knack for keeping all of us honest. It really pisses me off sometimes."

Walter turned his attention back to his friend… er… his wife…. er… his friend. Damn it everything was so confusing now. "If you want to marry him, Happy, you should be honest with him."

"The Doc isn't going to understand. His brain is closer to Paige's when it comes to stuff like this. Marrying for purely practical and logical reasons is the opposite of his nature. You do remember the melt down he had when his fiancé dumped him right?"

Walter started pacing the length of the room. "That was different. You're not dumping him."

Happy removed her feet from the coffee table and sat forward, resting her elbows on her knees. "No, I'm just asking him to wait until you get your citizenship in seven months, before we can divorce, and then I can marry him. You're right; he'll be totally cool with that."

Walter ignored her sarcasm and continued pacing.

"Will you sit down? You're making me dizzy."

"What's taking her so long?" he growled.

"She's been gone three minutes."

"Five minutes and thirty eight seconds."

"Sometimes I really want to punch you in the throat, O'Brien," Happy shook her head exasperated. "And I mean that in the most loving way possible. And speaking of love and the liaison, you finally want to tell me what I just walked in on?"

Walter stopped pacing and looked anywhere but at Happy.

"Walt?"

"I don't know what you mean," he said quickly. Too quickly as he walked over to the window and looked down into the alleyway. He couldn't see Tim or Paige even though he knew, based on the door they exited, that they had to have walked under the window.

"She'll kick your ass if she finds you spying on her," Happy said as she narrowed her eyes.

"How is she going to know?" The words slipped out before he could stop them. "Uh… w-what I mean is-"

Happy's chuckle wafted over from the sofa. "Oh I know what you meant. It's still not going to help you if she catches you."

"When did I become a stalker?" Walter grunted as he stomped away from the window and leaned against the counter.

"About the time you pushed the woman you love into another man's arms. You really can be a total dickhead sometimes."

"Thanks. So nice of you to sugar coat it to spare my feelings," Walter said with a frown.

"My pleasure," She grinned unrepentantly. "Sparing people's feelings is the liaison's job…. and now let's segue back over to my initial question again, what the hell was that I walked in on?"

Ferret Bueller pushed up on his paws and stretched before head butting Happy and then scurrying off the sofa and over to Walter. He climbed up the cabinet and flopped on his side on the counter.

"Have you never witnessed two people kissing before?"

"Kissing," Happy snorted. "That wasn't kissing. That was practically sex while fully clothed."

Walter felt the heat travel up his neck but it was not from embarrassment. His eidetic memory was reliving the moments she was in his arms, kissing him, writhing against him, her warm, soft, perfect body pressed as close to him as was physically possible, the feel of her breasts….

"O'Brien!" Happy's loud voice was accompanied by her slapping the table beside the sofa.

"Huh?" he said as his eyes snapped toward her.

"You've got drool running down your chin. Jesus, you need to get laid. Maybe you and she should take those reservations in Santa Barbara."

"No, thank you." Walter scoffed.

If he was going to take Paige away for the weekend he would never stay in a room that was originally reserved for her and Tim. For a brief second he wondered if Tim felt that way about the Tahoe reservations. Clearly not because the interloper jumped at the chance to get Paige alone. Creep.

"Well then if you're not going to tell me, I'm outta here. I don't want to be here when she comes back and the two of you start dry humping again." Happy swallowed her last gulp of wine and stood up.

"Are you going to tell Toby?" Walter picked up Ferret Bueller and started petting him.

"You haven't given me a choice, have you?" Happy scowled.

Walter shrugged. "I would say I'm sorry but it would be a lie. I don't want to keep anything from her anymore. It's too exhausting."

"We almost pulled it off, though, didn't we?" Happy said wistfully. "And we're almost at the end so the Doc will just have to deal. Paige took it pretty well."

Walter frowned. "Yeah, so well she dove head first into a bottle of red wine."

Ferret Bueller kept sniffing Walter's shirt, rubbing his head all over the genius as he chattered.

"It was a good Cab, I have to admit. What the hell is he doing to you?"

"I think he can smell Paige on me," Walter said as he pulled the animal away and put him on the counter again.

"That's just freaky. She can't possibly smell that good."

"She does," Walter replied without thinking and Happy snorted.

"You are one twisted dude, O'Brien. I'll see you around."

As she started to walk away, Walter spoke softly. "I know I haven't said it in a very long time but thank you, Happy.…. for what you did for me."

She stopped and looked at him over her shoulder before she turned to face him. "I don't know if you've ever thanked me but that's not why I did it. You're my friend and you don't need to thank me."

"Yes I do," Walter nodded even though he was disagreeing with her. "If I've learned nothing else from Paige, it's that."

"Yeah, she's annoying like that sometimes," Happy sighed but her affection for the liaison was obvious from her tone.

"She's the best thing that has ever happened in my life," Walter admitted honestly.

"It's about damn time you figured that out. But don't put her too high on a pedestal. No one can stay up there forever," the mechanic warned. "She's pretty cool for a normal and I'm glad she was in the diner that day because she and that kid are good for all of us. But she's not perfect. She did decide to date Tim, after all."

Walter made a gagging sound in the back of his throat before he sighed.

"I know she's not perfect, Happy," he replied yet Paige was the closest to perfection he would ever know. "But she's perfect for me. And that sounded incredibly lame, didn't it?"

Happy nodded as she rolled her eyes. "Even the Doc doesn't say lame shit like that."

They were silent for a few seconds.

"Does she love you?" she asked quietly.

"She says she does," Walter admitted, almost afraid to say the words.

"Well she's nothing if not disgustingly honest so I'd say you can believe her."

Ferret Bueller pawed at Walter's arm and he picked the small animal up again.

"Are you going to say yes to Toby's proposal?"

She shook her head. "I'm not the marrying type."

Walter saw her wall go back up. They were so alike sometimes it was a bit unsettling.

"Says the married woman whose fifth wedding anniversary is in six months."

"Stuff it O'Brien," she glared at him. "If I leave you alone can I trust you not to turn on the exterior cameras to find Tim and Paige and listen in? Although I'm pretty sure they're at the back of the alley."

"I won't spy on them," Walter agreed petulantly.

Happy rolled her eyes like she only half believed him. Her skepticism was probably justified but Walter still scowled.

"Don't screw this up O'Brien," Happy said as she started to walk away again. "That's a pretty damn good ready-made family you've got there."

"What if I do? Screw up, I mean," Walter's voice was soft but Happy heard it and stopped again.

"If the Doc can get it right, so can you. Just love her, Walt. Tell her and show her. And don't ever push her into another man's arms again or I'll kick your ass, so hard, all over this garage, your fall from space will feel like you landed on a feather pillow."

Happy smacked him on the arm harder than most women would have but that was as close to an affectionate pat she could ever get. It made Walter smile.

"Remember, O'Brien, use protection," she called as she started descending the ramp. "I don't want my husband knocking up his girlfriend before we're divorced."

"The behaviorist is rubbing off on you. And that's not a compliment," he called after her and her laugh echoed back up the stairs behind her.

But her words caused panic to bloom in his chest. Being with Paige meant being, at least eventually, intimate with her. And the thought made it hard for Walter to breathe.

It's not that he didn't want that. He did. _Desperately._ He wanted to touch every inch of her and just the thought of her beneath his fingers had him groaning under his breath as his entire body tightened.

And he wanted her to touch him.

He'd never wanted anyone to touch him in the past. But he wanted her nimble little hands all over him. Her touch had always been different and that should have alerted him to the fact that everything about her would be different.

But his limited past experience in that regard was less than…. successful.

Walter sighed heavily. That was a conversation he wasn't looking forward to having.

He glanced at the clock and his frown deepened because Paige still hadn't returned and it had been almost twelve minutes now.

That couldn't be good, right?

* * *

Thanks again for reading and reviewing.


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